A century ago, Americans didn\u2019t need programs to connect the generations: homes and communities housed people of all ages. But as people started living longer and moving into cities, we started thinking differently about those at both ends of the age spectrum. Schooling became mandatory, child labor was outlawed and Social Security and Medicare made a secure retirement possible for millions. The benefits were significant, but so was the downside: the natural order of things was subverted, and the generations lost contact. Our society is now acutely age segregated.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the harm? According to I Need You, You Need Me: The Young, The Old, And What We Can Achieve Together<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> a terrific new report from Generations United and the Eisner Foundation, age segregation:<\/p>\n I\u2019m glad to see ageism top the list, and I\u2019m excited by the way initiatives to connect the generations are cropping up.<\/em> Generations United has been at this a lot longer than I have, although I learned about their work early on in this project, when Executive Director Donna Butts spoke at a seminar for journalists in 2008.<\/p>\n \u201cThomas Jefferson said the web of relationships between generations is essential to civil society,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy do we keep trying to unweave that web? Because it\u2019s [easier] to default to intergenerational conflict mode than to deal with the real problems.\u201d<\/p>\n What role does age segregation play? If the generations have little opportunity to get to know each other, it\u2019s easier for \u201cus vs them\u201d ways of thinking to get a foothold. Zero-sum reasoning doesn\u2019t just distract us from the underlying issues and pit us against each other. It\u2019s unethical. We know it\u2019s not OK to allocate resources by race or by sex, so why should it be acceptable to weigh the needs of the young against the old?<\/p>\n Look, for example, at the way generational revenge was invoked to marshal the youth vote in the UK general election<\/a>. Or how the latest Republican budget is being framed as benefiting olders at the expense of the poor<\/a>\u2014as if no poor people were old and Social Security didn\u2019t buttress millions of families.<\/p>\n In nearly half of those families, grandparents are helping to raise grandchildren. That\u2019s according to a 2016 survey by Encore.org, which found that Americans have little appetite for a \u201cgeneration war\u201d and view intergenerational interdependence as a source of unity and mutual benefit\u2014especially in these difficult and divisive times.<\/p>\n The synergies are obvious, especially as the number of Americans over 65 swells. Many are keenly interested in supporting and guiding those who come next. \u201cWhy not match talent with need, tap experience for youth, connect supply with demand? Why not activate this solution hidden in plain sight?\u201d asks Marc Freedman, the founder of Encore, which launched the Generation to Generation campaign<\/a> last November to mobilize a million people over age 50 \u201cto help young people thrive and unite all ages to create a better future.\u201d<\/p>\n Another indicator of more cross-generational thinking is the emergence of \u201call-age-friendly\u201d (as opposed to \u201cage-friendly\u201d) community-planning initiatives. As this smart post about the “All-Age-Friendly City<\/a>\u201d observes, building trust between generations is the key to creating safe, green, accessible, communitarian living spaces. <\/p>\n\n